The present invention relates generally to a packaging system for pharmaceutical products. More particularly, the present invention relates to a packaging system for storing and dispensing individual doses of medication on prescribed days.
The concept of a packaging system for storing and dispensing individual doses of medication is well known in the art. Some packaging systems include instructions on when to take the medication. The user must read and remember the instructions in order to know when to take the medication. The instructions typically set forth the times per day or week and the amount of days or weeks the user should take the medication. Since the instructions lack a reminder system, the user will often forget to take the medication. If the user forgets to take the medication, the user may have to take additional medication or the user may suffer health complications as a result.
Some packaging systems have indicia printed alongside the individual doses of medication to remind the user when to take the medication. The indicia may correspond to certain hours of the day, days of the week, and so forth. In the case of a bottle-type packaging system, the indicia are generally affixed to a member which is slidably or rotatably movable relative to a fixed index mark on the container. In the case of a blister-pack packaging system, wherein the medication is individually sealed within a blister, the indicia may be nothing more than printed information adjacent to each blister associating each dose of medication with a specified time period. The indicia may indicate the specific time when an individual dose of medication is to be taken.
Indicia are commonly used in packaging systems for birth control pills and one such device is known for dispensing aspirin tablets. The indicia used on such packaging systems are an integral part of the packaging system, and if a different schedule is desired, the packaging system is unusable for such a different schedule and a whole new packaging system along with new indicia must be prepared. Additionally, since the indicia are located within the packaging system, this type of reminder device is only somewhat effective for reminding users that have to take the medication on a periodic basis, since the user must look in the packaging system itself to remember when to take the medication. Moreover, this arrangement is effective only to the degree the user can remember to check the packaging system. If the user has to take the medication on an irregular basis or a lengthy periodic basis, such as a weekly basis, a reminder device with indicia printed in a packaging system will not be effective since the user is likely to forget to check the packaging system.
The dimensions of some packaging systems for medication cause the packaging systems to rest in a horizontal orientation parallel to the ground. However, a horizontal orientation is not as visible to a user as a vertical orientation that is normal to the ground. A packaging system which can rest in a vertical orientation would increase the user's awareness of the medication and aid the user in remembering to take the medication.
It is apparent from conventional packaging systems that there is a need for a packaging system which contains external reminders for effectively dispensing medication on an irregular basis; which contains external reminders for effectively dispensing medication on a lengthy periodic basis; which can rest in a vertical orientation; and which has a structure that prevents the loss of medication.